Leaders of several civil society organisations, secular platforms, farmers’ groups, Dalit movements, backward class federations, women’s groups, Adivasi representatives and youth organisations met with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar and senior cabinet ministers in Bengaluru on May 8, demanding an immediate halt to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which they dubbed “undemocratic, exclusionary and unconstitutional.”
The meeting, held at Krishna in Bengaluru under the banner of platforms including Eddelu Karnataka and Karnataka Muslim Muttahida Mahaz, witnessed an extensive discussion on the implications of the SIR process and its possible impact on voting rights across the country.
Prominent participants included political economist Parakala Prabhakar, activist Nikhil Dey, voting rights campaigner Thomas Franco, Tara Rao of Eddelu Karnataka, Noor Sridhar, Mohammed Yousuf Kanni, Arun Louis, Badagalapura Nagendra, Vinay Srinivas and several representatives of social and political movements from across Karnataka. Ministers Priyank Kharge, Santosh Lad, K. J. George, N.S. Boseraju, Sharan Prakash Patil, Lakshmi Hebbalkar and H. K. Patil were also present.
The delegation argued that the SIR process, in its present form, resembles an indirect NRC-style exercise that could potentially disenfranchise large sections of vulnerable communities.